Archive for November, 2015

I’ve been missing from my own blog. It was busy here in October. We had our house insulated and after that came lots of other stuff like redecorating and getting the house winter ready. It was eventful, a bit stressful and tiring.

My running didn’t go well during those days and then I got sick towards the middle of November which made my running suffer even more.

I’ll try to summarise the runs I did in October and November here now. Just to have a record of them.

October

07/10/15 I did a 5 km run along the coast road then down towards Kilgorman to get on the beach and head south. No seal in the water today. I went for a walk the day before with C. We spent quite some time watching the seals at the south end, now that the tourists are gone, they are really reclaiming their territory. It’s good to see.
I walked the rest of the ‘run’ heading over the top of the hill and then back home.
Distance 10 k
Time:1:17
Ascent 320 m

08/10/15 a walk all around the hill. I met A who was walking McKinley and her own dog. We ended up walking together for most of this one. She’s a really nice person. I wonder if our paths will cross again.
Distance: 9 k
Time 1:40 min
Ascent: 345 m

11/10/15 Sunday long run with about 1/3 of it on a new route. Found a lovely little side road, it’s about 3 km away from the sea so it can’t compete with the vistas you get looking out at sea. It’s beautiful in the autumn foliage – all red and yellow with plenty of chestnuts acorns etc strewn across the side of the road… very pretty! I did turn out eastward and did my usual cliff coastal run before hitting the beach at the end of this run. I took my time, I didn’t have me speedometer switched on deliberately. I am a slow runner but I guess if it wasn’t for slow runners we wouldn’t celebrate the fast runners
Distance: 17.5 km
Time:2 hrs
Ascent: 289 m

17/10/15 was the first of my ‘I’m tired’ runs. We had the builders during those days. It was stressful and annoying. All the dirt and the attitude, I couldn’t find time during the week to run and had to wait for the weekend. This one was through Castletown then down to the coast road to finish on the beach where I met J.
Distance 9 km
Time 1:04
Ascent 50

20/10/15 Same Route as two weeks ago. I met J on the beach and we got a lovely 5 km walk in too.
Distance 14 km
Time: 1:31
Ascent 289m

25/10/15 A run with N! I went to her house and we set out together. her roads are not much quieter but certainly less hilly. I really enjoyed running with her. we talked a lot. I was holding her back no doubt but she said she liked my pace and that it would be good for her. I paced myself a bit more than usual because i wasn’t sure what to expect regarding length of run and intensity. in the end i had quite a lot left in the tank so I was pleased. After the run we went for lunch in Sean Óg. And then we watched the rugby. It was fun day.

Distance 12 km
Time: 1:21
Ascent: 55 m

28/10/15 Another longish run via Kilmurry Hill and then Castletown to finish on the beach. it’s getting colder and wetter now. So any descent day calls me out to go running. I’m more tired now though. Is it the fact that winter is upon us?

https://instagram.com/p/9YfvxBpPeT/

November:

01/11/15

Yesterday we had a lot of fog and quite a bit of rain that lingered right through the night and during this morning.
It’s so mild outside here in ireland this autumn. I knew the sun would burn off the remaining clouds/haze/fog so I left my jacket at home and just went out. I wanted to head up the hill this morning and focus more on enjoying running without any focus on pace. I actually chose to scramble up an old narrow path that isn’t really runnable and my GPS was a bit confused didn’t know if I was stopping or moving I was going so slow. There is no way my average pace was 6:… something on this run I was way slower than that.

When I got to the top the fog lifted and I ended up running in beautiful sunshine. With no wind it nearly felt like summer except the sun is quite low now. When I got to the beach I stopped running and walked another 7.5 km. it was just way to pretty and summery and I was just not that interested in running any further. There were quite a few people walking on the beach, glorious SUNday all around.

Distance: 6.7 km
Time: 43 min
Ascent: 165 m

Walk: 7.3 km
Time: 1:23

09/11/15 My first run in a week!

We are having one of our first winters storms out there. It’s not too bad yet. Winds are strong gale force and a lot of rain. I’ve been so busy and tired from the home improvement stuff I just couldn’t run as well. This morning was the first ‘better’ day and I went out despite the weather. It was great! Windy and wet. My shoes were soaked after the first km. I had wrapped up warm though and didn’t mind. I wan along the road past the Golden Anchor until I could take a right to get on the
The coast road was wild and I had the wind right in my face which made the last 2 km tough. I ended up getting onto the beach, just couldn’t resist it it. The sand was being blown right at me and because the water line was quite high the sand was super soft. So I walked the last km. When the weather is like this and I’m out in it I feel alive! All the rain has made the stream swell up. I had to take off my shoes to cross the river at Kilgorman

Distance: 7.8 km
Time:50 min
Ascent: 230 m

12/11/15 I really felt the fatigue on this run. Am I running too little that I am dropping conditioning? Or is it just the strain of the last month that has taken it’s toll? I ran to the Anchor and turned right to head straight down to the beach. I was rewarded for my efforts with the most phenomenal stormy beach weather. Walking with a 60km headwind was enjoyable! The waves were big, the sea foam and sand was flying and though it had been raining for most of my run the sun came out for about 2 minutes. Magic!

Distance: 7:14 km
Time: 50 min

15/11/15
Went for a run during rather stormy weather today. I had hoped to do at least 10 km possibly 14… So I took it easy and ran the quickest route down to the beach hitting it from the south end. I managed to leap across the first stream and ran along the wild waves in flat but rather soft sand with 50 km winds from behind. When I got to the bridge to cross the stream at the other end – it was basically gone I really didn’t fancy running back the way I came with with that wind in my face. So I took shoes and socks off, rolled my trousers up to my knees and tried to wade through the stream as it gets all flat when it meets the sea. And then – BIGGER wave – end of fun, well, end of dry trousers. I was up to my thighs in water and I hadn’t gone in across more than a couple of feet. So I turn around rather quickly. There was no point putting shoes and socks back on, I was drenched. I rolled my trousers back down though cause I was being sandblasted! Ouch!
I walked back the way I came (no other choice) and my husband picked me up when I got back to the road. I had fun but it wasn’t the most comfortable outing that’s for sure, cold, wet and a tad sore – nothing that wasn’t fixed by a hot shower and a yummy hot meal. Happy Sunday to you all.

Distance: 7:19 km
Time: 43 min

20/11/15
First run this week. Still struggling with fatigue so I’m taking it easy! Chose to go on the slower terrain – up the hill. I walked the steepest sections and enjoyed the downhill. I finished off on the beach.
It started to rain/snow on my last km and the clouds opened up and there was a pretty rainbow.

Distance: 8 km
Time: 58 min

Unfortunately I felt absolutely lousy in the afternoon. I went to bed with chills and a temperature. I have no idea what caused it. Energy depletion? I also started to cough like mad. And strangely it didn’t go away (though the cough eased again.) It lasted for three days! Not happy. It’s time to hibernate or migrate! Thankfully the house is nice and cozy this winter. It makes the world of a difference. I looked at my graphs on DM… Bad idea 119km in September dropped to 77 km and now at 36?!??! Bear, definitely a bear (I’m not a hedgehog!)

30/11/15 A walk with some running.
We’ve had two storm fronts over Ireland over the last 10 days that made me cooped up in the house even longer besides being down with this mystery temperature. I was so ready to go this morning come hail or high water (literally!) and didn’t mind the weather. I went up the hill again taking some side routes spending most of my time walking though. My IT band started to give out on the downhill. Serves me right for wearing the ‘old’ runners. I thought I’d get away with them. They are not really old or particularly worn, they are just a bit too small for the long runs. As I’m not doing any substantial distances and with all the mucky muddy trails I wanted to save my good shoes for the road. The IT band hurt pretty bad going down the hill and on Saleen Lane. Not good.
What’s also not good is that I’ve been doing nearly no core or strength work lately. So now I have a ‘plan’ for December: walk most days and do my core and IT band workout every day. And hopefully I will be back to running in January and able to train for the coming season. Connemara? I don’t know. I’ll have to see how December works out.